# Encyclopedia Britannica stops printing **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708 "2012-03-14T01:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/21 "2012-03-14T13:31:13Z")
I read through the entire Oxford Dictionary one semester. I was quite impressed. There wasn’t very much of a plot, but the author sure had a great vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/22 "2012-03-14T14:01:59Z")
I have a set of the 1911, which is the particularly fine one - it’s wonderful reading, back from when encyclopedias weren’t necessarily unbiased sources at all. But as a librarian even I can get behind ceasing print publication of a frequently updated reference source. We do still need children’s print encyclopedias, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/23 "2012-03-14T14:04:43Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > The oldest continuously published encyclopedia in the English language will publish its last issue of its last edition. It does not look like there will be a Sixteenth Edition forthcoming. Thus, the Fifteenth Edition joins the Eleventh Edition. Of the 8,000 sets printed, 4,000 sets remain to be sold to the public. You can buy the set at $1,395, or you can wait until the inevitable price drop. Somehow I think that it would be an investment in more ways than one. > > From a [blog post](http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/) on _The New York Times_ website: > > > [@](#): > > > > “It’s a rite of passage in this new era,” Jorge Cauz, the president of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., a company based in Chicago, said in an interview. “Some people will feel sad about it and nostalgic about it. But we have a better tool now. The Web site is continuously updated, it’s much more expansive and it has multimedia.” > > Don’t you mean “Wikipedia is continuously edited”, Mr. Cauz? :rolleyes: First, you read the article from the New York Times incorrectly. It said that of the last printing, 8,000 copies have already been sold while 4,000 remain in inventory. Second, Mr. Cauz did _not_ mean that “Wikipedia is continuously edited” but that the EB website is continuously edited. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/24 "2012-03-14T14:05:10Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > But as a librarian even I can get behind ceasing print publication of a frequently updated reference source. We do still need children’s print encyclopedias, though. Why? Children can’t use the Internet? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/25 "2012-03-14T14:07:23Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Wikipedia did not win And even if it had won, we wouldn’t be the winners. The Wikipedia model is very problematic, in that actual experts are often drowned out by non-experts, and that Wikipedia does not accept original research. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/26 "2012-03-14T14:31:03Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The Wikipedia model is very problematic… Coincidentally enough I stumbled on this page today while web-surfing: [List of Hoaxes on Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_hoaxes_on_Wikipedia) I particularly liked this one… > [@](#): > > **Reich Corps of the Trombone** > fictitious Nazi organization of trombonists created by Joseph Goebbels for propaganda purposes …which apparently lasted for 5 years, 2 months, 2 days. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/27 "2012-03-14T15:05:09Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Why? Children can’t use the Internet? Sure they can, but it’s often very useful to be able to hand them a volume. Children tend to do assignments that just require an encyclopedia article. ETA - and the World Book is still quite popular - they evidently think they want print. We have reference and circulating copies, and they move quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/28 "2012-03-14T15:13:46Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Why? Children can’t use the Internet? I would much rather hand my nine year old a book then have to worry about her surfing the web unsupervised. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/29 "2012-03-14T15:16:24Z")
Our set at home was my go-to for homework assignments in elementary school. I remember researching Mars, woodpeckers, and China! Not for the same assignment. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/30 "2012-03-14T15:19:47Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > You can buy the set at $1,395, or you can wait until the inevitable price drop. Somehow I think that it would be an investment in more ways than one. If the price drops by the time I’m in a position to, I guess I’ll get it. If it turns out to be an expensive collectors item, I guess I won’t. I might keep my eyes open at yard sales and Goodwill and the like. I really do miss having it on hand. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/31 "2012-03-14T15:20:31Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I have a set of the 1911, which is the particularly fine one - it’s wonderful reading, back from when encyclopedias weren’t necessarily unbiased sources at all. A particularly fine edition, from which the late, great [Anna Russell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Russell) took “all her information”! ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/32 "2012-03-14T15:21:18Z")
What will happen to the Encyclopedia Britannica kid? > **[Wikipedia Is Down — Take Comfort In These Vintage Encyclopedia Britannica Ads...](https://thefw.com/encyclopedia-britannica-ads/)** > > Thanks to Wiki going dark to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills, you're likely at a loss for facts and useless trivia, wandering the streets accosting random people until someone tells you which movie Arnold Schwarzenegger costarred with Jim Belushi in.... ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/33 "2012-03-14T15:25:06Z")
My parents bought a set of EB in the late 50’s before their first child was born. For at least 20 years afterwards, they got a book of the year addendum annually. In 68 they bought the World Book, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/34 "2012-03-14T15:35:59Z")
My parents had two encyclopedias when I was growing up. One was the kind that you could buy from the supermarket for a few dollars for each volume. The EB was far too expensive for us, although I have no idea what it cost then. Now, I wish I had the room for it, because it would be cool to own (partly simply because it would look cool on a shelf). I was also tempted to buy [Modernist Cuisine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_Cuisine), again because it would look cool on the shelf but also because it’s supposed to be beautifully printed. But perhaps that’s one of the advantages of living in a small apartment; I have to control my impulse to buy too many books. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/35 "2012-03-14T15:36:25Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Our set at home was my go-to for homework assignments in elementary school. I remember researching Mars, woodpeckers, and China! > > Not for the same assignment. Now I am wondering if there \*are \*Chinese woodpeckers on Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/36 "2012-03-14T15:39:57Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Now I am wondering if there \*are \*Chinese woodpeckers on Mars. Heh. Now that I think of it, it was roadrunners, not woodpeckers. Chinese Roadrunners from Mars: band name! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/37 "2012-03-14T15:43:51Z")
Growing up, we had the 1979 edition _The New Book of Knowledge_ by Grolier with the white cover. I liked it a lot. Right now in my office I have a 1967 edition of Britannica that I rescued from being thrown out by an acquaintance. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/38 "2012-03-14T15:44:50Z")
It occurred to me to wonder: Is Encyclopedia Brown still in print? Do kids still read those books? Will future kids even know where Encyclopedia Brown’s name comes from? Or will he join his lesser-known colleagues, Gazetteer Harris and Lexicon Jones, on the scrap heap? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/39 "2012-03-14T15:46:41Z")
Kids still love Encyclopedia Brown. And don’t be silly - there are still encyclopedias. Hell, there’s still a Britannica! It’s just not on paper. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708/40 "2012-03-14T16:07:54Z")
> [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > Coincidentally enough I stumbled on this page today while web-surfing: > > [List of Hoaxes on Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_hoaxes_on_Wikipedia) [Here’s](http://chronicle.com/article/The-Undue-Weight-of-Truth-on/130704/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en) an article by historian Timothy Messer-Kruse regarding his experience with Wikipedia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encyclopedia-britannica-stops-printing/615708.md?page=3)